Anti-Inflammation and Advertising: A Match Made In Wellness Heaven

Wellness Warriors are out in full force for anti-inflammatory diets. These anti-inflammatory diets often follow a few simple steps that seem like good advice but are actually a tactic to separate you from your money, in the style of long-form advertising.   

1. General appeal to chronic disease. These diets are often longer articles that begin with screeds about chronic disease; the broader the better. The more diseases you can lump in together, the better the diet, the advice, and the (later) products will sound. Why stop at type 2 diabetes when irritable bowel syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis are sitting right there?
2. Provide 5-10 “easy” steps. Be sure that the first few steps are generic health advice, like “eat leafy greens” and “don’t drink.” It helps pad the number of steps, and people will blow through the first few because they likely already know them. People don't search for diets for generic advice; they come for the promise of unlocking a secret.
3. The secret: bury marketing for your products. The secret that Wellness Warriors provide is their products and services. Plugs for the products and services are essential and usually start around the middle of the list. The more links they can provide to their products and services, the better!

Will Cole’s Masterclass

To see this formula in the wild, look no further than chiropractor, supplement seller, and super wellness woo enthusiast Will Cole. Will Cole’s 'Guide to the Anti-Inflammatory Diet'—a masterclass in the 'bait-and-switch' marketing of wellness. It's written as a guide of anti-inflammatory diets, from A to Z, has five steps, starts with a general appeal to chronic disease, and has links to his supplement story a plenty.

It begins with a generic health pitch: 

“Inflammation is behind just about every health concern you can think of, from chronic illnesses like rheumatoid arthritis, IBS, IBD, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and heart disease to ongoing symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, depression, and digestive issues.” 

General appeal to chronic disease: check. He managed to name drop six chronic diseases plus generic symptoms that likely appeal to most people in some way. We're off to a good start! 

Subtlety: Steps 1-3

The first step is to eat fruits, veggies, and leafy greens. This is good general advice and isn't rocket science. However, what kind of wellness website would this be without a healthy dose of “toxic” concerns thrown in? 

“For example, cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower can help to improve methylation, and antioxidant-rich fruits like blueberries and pomegranates can help to reduce oxidative stress and cellular damage that can stem from toxin exposure.” 

Far be it from me to recommend against eating more fruits and vegetables, as this is generic good advice. However, true to form, Will couldn’t let an opportunity to talk about toxins slip by. What toxins, you may ask? All of them! Do we have examples? No! Just a general, hand-wavy “you know it when you feel it” implication.  

In Step 2, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, we get our first buried link. He links to another post about functional medicine and lab tests that he recommends (spoiler alert: ALL of them). The old trope of “no evidence is fine, but flimsy is better” holds, as he references research that looks at biomarkers, not health outcomes, one of which is in people with cancer. Mostly, though, this section is a list of foods that I'm assuming he likes.  

Step 3 is Anti-Inflammatory Beverages, and this section is pure wellness “red meat”. Expensive green smoothies and nut milks. Water laced with supplements. He links to smoothie and juice recipes on his website, directly linking to his supplement store. We start to see the advertising ramp up now. 

Explicit Advertising: Steps 4 and 5

Step 4, Gut-Healthy Foods, is a list of foods that he and other Wellness Warriors consider “gut healthy.” Until now, advertising has been embedded within links that go to other parts of his websites, which contain the links and advertisements for his products. However, it is late in the marketing game, so Will becomes a bit more direct, as he ends this section with an advertisement for one of his books:

“Find your unique food triggers and reset your system with the help of my book, The Inflammation Spectrum.”

Step 5 is Supplements, and you had to know this one was coming. This is the last moment, and it is full steam ahead on advertising. Step 5 is only six sentences long. Within those six sentences, there are four links to supplements that he sells, plus a link to a quiz to determine if you are suffering from chronic inflammation. However, instead of answering questions, you’re directed to his consultation page. There doesn't seem to be an actual quiz. Just the types of consultations he offers and how much they cost ($520 or $5,480). We just have to assume that we all have chronic inflammation and need a consultation!

If you think I'm being presumptuous and overly critical of his intentions with this article, he gives the game away at the end of the fifth step.

Detoxing from Wellness Grifters

If you're looking for a reputable source of dietary advice, one of the easiest tactics to be on the lookout for is the number of times they plug a product they, coincidentally, happen to sell. If it's more than none, you're likely looking at an advertisement, not good health advice. It's easy for Wellness Warriors to write their personal thoughts on health, well-being, and nutrition, and then link to their product store that “supports” their ideas. 

Wellness is a business. Full stop. The Wellness Industry has capitalized on virtue signaling, fear, and good vibes. That doesn't mean it's good for your health. This January, instead of throwing a bunch of money at wellness grifter products and services, stick with the generic, free advice that can be found just about anywhere: eat fruits and veggies, exercise more, don't smoke, and don't drink. Let's make January 2026 the month of detoxing from wellness grifters.